African countries urged to unblock Russian fertilizers in EU ports

African countries came out in support of the speedy unblocking of Russian fertilizers in EU ports so that they can enter the international market, including the African one. This was stated by the official representative of the President of South Africa Vincent Magvenya.

“The states of Africa, including South Africa, are striving to resolve all issues as soon as possible so that more than 200 thousand tons of Russian fertilizers blocked in European ports enter the world market, including Africa,” he said (cit. according to TASS), noting that this issue was discussed at the Russia-Africa summit, which was held in St. Petersburg on July 27-28.

At the end of October 2022, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands are blocking fertilizers that Russia is ready to transfer to the poorest countries. According to the ministry, the companies were unable to donate about 300,000 tons of products to the poorest countries. Then this possibility was discussed in the framework of the second part of the grain deal, which was never implemented, which forced Russia to withdraw from the agreement.

The deal was concluded on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Turkey and the UN, on the one hand, and representatives of Russia and Ukraine, on the other. As part of the negotiations, two agreements were signed between Moscow and Kiev. The first is for the export of Ukrainian grain from three ports, including Odessa, Yuzhny and Chornomorsk, the second is for assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. On July 17, 2023, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Initiative.

On July 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin at the plenary session of the Russia-Africa Forum assessed the results of the agreement. According to him, during the year of the deal, 32.8 million tons of cargo was exported from Ukraine, of which 70% went to high-income countries. At the same time, according to him, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and other African countries accounted for less than 3% of the total number of deliveries – less than 1 million tons. , remained unfulfilled.